The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 21, 1929, Page 6

Page Baily IPTION RAT! il (in New York only): $4.50 six months months of New York): six months thr (outside ¢ ar $3. hree mon mail all checks to w 8 Union Yr. The Revolt Against Sidney Speedup Hillman ional accomplishments and the new spirit The organiz of militant unior Trades Worke: York dress Shop Delegat pressed in the founding of the Needle trial Union and in the present New trike will be reinforced. very materially by the a ’ Conference, the call for which was addressed yesterday by the New York section of the Trade Union Educational League to all members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. We have said that the dress strike and the present strug- gle of large sections of the needle trades workers for emanci- pation from the b s’ agents who have ruled their organi- zations for years and reduced the old unions to virtual com- pany unions, would have effects that must not and cannot be confined to the relatively small original field, but must be extended to the entire needle industry and far beyond its borde to the masses of the organized and unorganized work It is welcome news to the class-conscious workers that the movement against sweat-shop conditions and corrupt, boss-ridden unionism is at last making serious advances in that baliwick of yellow unionism controlled by Messrs. Hill- man, Beckerman, Schlossberg & Co. Conditions in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers have their own peculiarities. This union was itself, in the first place, born of the struggle against the corruption and boss- control of the old United Garment Workers Union. This his- torical fact left a popular conception of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union as something “purer” than the older organizations. A certain amount of “radical” phrase- ology used to hang on even in official circles, and the fact that the union is now only fifteen years away from the strug- gle which gave it birth, caused many workers to be slow to wake up to the fact that Mr. Hillman has himself long ago become a little Gompers of the worst type surrounded by a corps of bureaucratic lieutenants and gangsters that would make Bill Green green with envy. Hillman himself is a fine speciment of that type of parasite upon the body of organ- ized labor which gets into its place as a blood-sucker in the struggle as a “radical” against older and rival blood-suckers. At-his side throughout the fifteen years of his career Hill- man has kept Joe Schlossberg whose particular function con- sisted largely in rolling sanctimonious phrases—learned in the reformist socialist labor party—with enough “radical” flavor and yet enough ambiguity to keep the workers under this bureaucracy befuddled with the notion that the leaders were “fighting” the bosses with whom Hillman in reality arranged the system of union-and-boss collaboration for the speed-up system, the blacklist, merciless expulsions simul- taneously from the union and the shop, etc. Today the Hillman machine stands completely severed from the rank and file of the union—completely developed as a bureaucracy “over and above” the workers in whose life- blood it trades with the bosses in the interest of the bosses and the union bureaucrats. Earlier in the course of this de- velopment there were quarrels between Hillman and the Cahan gang of the Jewish Daily Forward, and between Hill- man and Beckerman, an out-and-out gangster-captain of the old school. But these quarrels were quarrels of rivalry for the right to graft upon the workers the sinecures of office and profit. Today the whole line-up of traitors against the workers manages to co-operaté for the common cause of hold- ing the Amalgamated Clothing Workers as a virtual company union with the inscription on its banner “Hearty Cooperation with Employers!” So utterly abandoned has this gang of bureaucrats be- come that one of its chief activities is to peddle among cloth- ing manufacturers the theory that the workers in the men’s clothing industry can be exploited more successfully with the help of the agents of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers than without such “cooperation.” in the men’s clothing industry the slightest chance of being favorably heard in any complaint against a boss registered with the “union.” The speed-up system is the beau ideal of Sidney Hill- man. It is the first gospel of “unionism’’ to this bureaucratic machine which leans for support, not upon the militant spirit of the workers, but the self-interest of the bosses. The check- off system is one of the cardinal points of the cooperation be- tween the bureaucracy and the bosses against the workers, from whom the bosses are trusted by Mr. Hillman to collect the union dues. But the revolt is coming. The Shop Delegates’ Confer- ence of next Saturday and Sunday in New York foreshadows a new day in the relations between the yellow Hillman bureau- cracy and the men and women it has enslaved. The militant leadership of the Trade Union Educational League has given to the workers in the men’s clothing industry the correct program and the crystalization necessary to begin the move- ment. Bigger events are to be expected in the needle trades. industry in all its branches. The new Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union’must and shall embrace the entire needle industry. It alone can furnish the workers of the men’s clothing factories with organizational means and honest, mili- tant leadership to fight their way out of the present sweat- shop conditions and onward toward the larger class struggles with which comes emancipation. The dress strike cannot but affect with its example the many thousands of workers whom Hillman has bound and sold to “hearty cooperation” with the scab-herding bosses. Who Stole the Goods—and the Cartoon? A group of reactionary Russians, former landlord and eapitalist exploiters of the Russian workers and peasants, Czarist priests, military and police officers and hangmen, who lived for years by wringing from the workers of ‘their country all the product of toil, and forcing them to live on starvation wages, protests now against the workers of the U.S. S. R. selling in America their own products, for them- selves, without supporting any millionaire, noble or priestly caste with part of the product. A four page leaflet is being circulated near the entrances to the Exhibition of Soviet Russian Arts and Crafts in New York. The leaflet is put out by the white guard colony in New York, and appeals against anyone, “buying stolen ar- ticles.” But so true are the white guards to their predatory train- ing that they cannot even make a hypocritical appeal to American buyers without, giving way W their real instincts. - No longer has a worker | The Assembly for Unification “AND ABE CAHAN PROMISED ME——!” |ment of the United States, the In the first part of his fifth ar-| Trade Union Educational League. ticle, Albert Weisbord, fraternal} “The National Assembly for the delegate of the Trade Union Educa-| Unification of Workers and Agrar- tional League to the Mexican Unity |ians views with the greatest joy| Congress of Workers and Peasants,| the establishment of close contact |discussed the organizations repre-| with the revolutionary trade union | was the first time such a delegate | |workers never believed there were, movement in the United States, and we greet the Trade Union Educa tional League as a comrade organi- zation fighting side by side with us against our common enemy. “We especially welcome .the fact that for the first time the revolu- tionary trade union movements on either side of the Rio Grande have sent fraternal delegates to partici- pate in mutual conference. We heartily trust this will be the steady procedure in the future. “We warmly approve and adopt the proposals of the Trade Union sented at the congress, the delegates, | the business transacted, ete. Today the concluding portion of this article is printed, a ars By ALBERT WEISBORD The American fraternal delegate | from the T.U.E.L. was received with the greatest enthusiasm. It. had been present. Many of the ny revolutionary worker's in the . S. and they did not believe me. DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY | But when my first speech was trans- | lated, all suspicion and doubt van- ished and I was taken into their arms as a true brother. Together we discussed the problems of Mex- ican workers in the United States, organization questions (indeed, I was commissioned to work out the Educational League and its repre-| sentative and we fully appreciate that this means that the necessary first steps will have been taken in bind-| ing tne revolutionary movements of both Americas in most intimate {friendship and solidarity.” |organization thesis!) and interna-| | tional relations. The press gave big | publicity to the event, A special resolution was adopted on the rela- | tions with the T.U.E.L. and amid | | the greatest enthusiasm a formal Solidarity Pact was signed. “Resolution on Relations with the The Solidarity Pact reads as fol-| | lows: | |Educational League of the United, agrarian masses and for the vigor- Revolutionary Trade Union Move-! “Solidarity Pact between the Na-| aggression of American imperialism makes imperative the closest unity of the National Assembly for the Unification of the Workers and Agrarians of Mexico with the Trade Union Educational League, the re- volutionary trade union movement of the United States. “In this joint struggle against American imperialism, the Trade Union Educational League especially pledges its utmost aid particularly in the armed struggle of Latin American peoples against United States imperialism for genuine na- tional independence. “We pledge ourselves to solidarity in all actions in support of the class struggle programs of the Trade Union Educational League and the National Assembly for the Unifica- tion of the Workers and Agrarians against all exploiters both native and foreign, of the proletarian and agrarian masses, “We will mutually fight against the menacing danger of a new im- perialist war and for the most ener. getic defense of the U. S. S. R. “We will aid each other in oppos-| ing all capitalist rationalization of 21, 1929 tional Assembly for the Unification | industry at the expense of the work- | of the Workers and Agrarian Toil-|e-5 and will fight against the ex-; ers of Mexico and the Trade Union |tortions of landowners upon the! States: |ous defense of the organizations of “The present period of tremendous | agrarian toilers. Fraternal Greetings Between Mexican | and U.S. Labor Albert Weisbord, fraternal delegate of the Trade Union Educational “We will oppose fascism and all |forms of reaction in either country. “A deadly war must be waged jointly by Trade Union Educational | League and by the National Assemb- | \ly for the Unification of the Work-| \ers and Agrarians of Mexico against \the Pan-American Federation of La- bor and its ‘Monroe Doctrine of La- |bor’ We must wipe out completely |the corrupt and class collaboration} | officials from the trade unions. | “At the same time we will join | hands on a basis of the class strug-! gle, both on a national and on an \international scale, in accordance | with the policies and practices of the | | Red International of Labor Unions, |to establish one single Trade Union International throughout the world. “Long live the solidarity of the workers of the United States and Mexico. “Long live the Trade Union Unity | of the workers throughout the world. ALBERT WEISBORD, for the Trade Union Educational League of the United States. JUANA DIAZ, for the National Assembly for | the Unification of the Work- | ers and Agrarians of Mexigo.” Other Questions. Two other questions arose which must be mentioned briefly. 1) The relation of the new’ Unitarian con- federation to the new political work- ers agrarian toilers bloc came up. The committee brought in a resolu- tion that declared that each local union could decide what working- class political candidate to support (a modest enough resolution) but the few anarchists present were able to provoke a storm and due to the strong anarcho-syndicalist tra- | the By Fred Ellis outstanding leaders, this was too| |much, Blows were struck, and the | anarchists would have been | thrown bodily from the window if} \they had not quickly apologized. The | \anarchists are politically dead! | What were the achievements of| ‘the National Assembly for the*Uni- | fication of the Workers and| Agarian Toilers, 1. A new permanent central |trade union body was formed, the! Unitarian Confederation of Labor. | A complete program of work, a con-| \stitution and an executive of 11} (General Secretary, Sequeros, Or-| ganization Secretary, Campa, Finan- cial Secretary, Barrios) created. | 2. The following National Indus- trial Federations were created: a. Miners. b. Oil workers. c.| Metal workers. d. Transport work- | ers. e. Textile workers. f. Agricul- | tural workers. g. Food workers, h.| Theatre workers. | For each national industrial fede- | ration, executives were chosen and} \rules worked out. | 8. Preparations were made for | a general strike against the new} \fascist labor code should the govern- | ment try to put this into effect. 4, Closest relations were estab- lished with the Trade Union Educa- tional League and the Montevideo secretariat. What were the immediate results of this conference? | 1, The masses prepared better for | coming open revolutionary period. Already there are four na- | tional bodies formed: a. National Agrarian Toilers League (Campe- | sinos). b, National Committee for Proletarian Defence (Shop Commit- tee). c. National Unitarian Con- federation of Labor. 4d. Workers Agrarian Toilers Political Bloc. | 2. The anarcho-syndicalists have | been entirely liquidated and the} CROM rapidly decomposed. | 8. The Pan-American Federa- tion of Labor is dead among the masses in Mexico and in its place | stands the R. I. L, U. Special pains | had been taken to send organizers to Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Guate- | mala, and other places where the | CROM and the Pan-American Fede- | ration of Labor claimed some in-| fluence to kill forever any, illusions | that the masses had concerning these | organizations. The coming Carib- bean Conference and the Montevideo Conference will see all these coun- tries well represented. ew nae The sixth article in this series, to be published tomorrow, is the speech of Albert Weisbord, fraternal dele- gate from the Trade Union Educa- tional League to the Unity Congress of Workers and Peasants (National Assembly for the Unification of Workers and Peasants) in Mexico City. It takes up the role of United States imperialism in Latin-Ameri- ca, the situation in the American la- bor movement, and international trade union unity, especially be- tween the U.S. and the Latin-Amer- ican countries. Chinese Police in the | Bank, and from there dodged around and reached | Victor and Cripple Creek nevertheless submitted let- League, and Sequeros, General Secretary of the new Left wing Unitary Confederation of Labor, shaking hands at the recent Unitary Congress of Workers and Peasants in Mexico City, which cemented the revolu- tionary labor movement of the 2 countries. The very cartoon that fills half of a page of their leaflet against “stolen articles” was stolen by them from the Daily Worker of January 15. It is by Fred Ellis, and shows the crowned ‘dictator of Jugo-Slavia, Alexander, waving over his subjects a sword marked “Made in France.” The Russian ditions existing still, the resolution was withdrawn and nothing at all said on this question. The resolu- tion was withdrawn simply because the confederation was just being created, Once created, short shrift will be made of those petty-bour- geois anarchist elements. 2) The very few anarchists (2 in particular) tried their very best to split the conference, but they could monarchists change the label on the sword to “Made in Ger- many” and try to make a wonderful world believe it pictures conditions in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics! |not do so. | tactics reached so far that they. de-| Japanese ‘nounced as a liar one of the most When their disruptive Legation Quarter of Peking Out on Strike LONDON, Feb. 20 (UP).—A dig- patch from the Peking correspond- ent of the Daily Telegraph today said Chinese ‘police in the legation quarter of the city went out on strike. Their demands included higher wages, the dispatch said. United States, British, French and forces were reported guarding the city gates. | Copyright, 1929, by Internation Publishers Co., Inc. BILL HAYWOOD’S BOOK All rights reserved. Republica- tion forbidden except by permission. | Governor Peabody’s Commission; Martial Law at Cripple Creek; the U. S. Sends Rifles Against Miners Previously, Haywood wrote of his early life as cowboy, home- steader and miner in Utah, Nevada and Idaho; of his rise through years of work, to the head of the Western Federation of Miners: the battles of the W. F. M. under his leadership in Colorado; he is now telling of the great Cripple Creek strike of 1903. Now go on reading. Se eae By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD. PART XLIl. A COMMISSION had been sent to Cripple Creek by the gover composed of John Chase, N. C. Miller and Tom E. McC! commission, which came on what the people of the distr in their resolution of protest, as “a brief and stealthy visi through an alley into the rear entrance of the Victor Cripple Creek, where they called Sheriff Robertson into conference, The sheriff did not agree with them that the troops were necessary, but the mayors of ters, identical in language from both of them, which said that the sheriff and other peace officers were utterly unable to preserve order and protect lives and property, and requested that the National Guard of Colorado be sent to the district immediately. The sheriff had told the commission that he had authority to employ all the deputies he needed, that he had the situation in he that there was no trouble in the district and had been none, no unu al assembly of men, saloons were closed at midnight. “The sending of troops here is a usurpation of authority on the part of the governor,” he said, * The executive committee of District Union Number 1 stated that @ie commission had made no effort to see them, or to meet any repre- sentatives of the Western Federation, nor did they intimate an to hear the Federation’s side of the difficulty. But the comm reported that they had made careful investigation among citizen property owners, including the mayors of Cripple Creek and Victo and said that they were “of the opinion that the lives of the citizens of the district are in imminent danger and personal rights jeopardy. Prompt action is necessary. . . . We find that a 2 ign of terror exists in the district. We do not believe that the civil authorities are able to cope with the situation.” This blood-curdling report was made in face of the fact that there had not been even a fist fight in Cripple Creek district, and the further fact that one of the leading mines—the Portland—was already at work. <n * * * de: A thousand soldiers got off the train at Cripple Cr where everything was quiet. They established stations on every hill around the town, Cow Hill, Bull Hill, Pisgah, Nipple Hill, Squaw Hill, and St. Peter’s Dome. Here they had telescopes, telegraph connections, heliograph signals, and search lights to rake the towr They took Possession of the district. The citizens had to have p: from the military to go about their own town, or along their own road These soldiers were under command of Adjutant General Sherman Bell, who was to receive from the mine owners thirty-two hundred dollars in addition to his regular salary. The mine owners had als agreed to pay five hundred thousand dollars for the maintenance of the troops while they were in the district. Here I should add th: the mine operators of Telluride had also agreed to pay for the soldi who went to the San Juan district, After the militia arrived, a shipment of one tho Jorgensen rifles was received from Wyoming, and six a rounds of ammunition. These war supplies could have come from no other source than the federal government. At headquarters we got a telegram from Cripple Creek: The civil power has been supplanted by military despoti laws of the state are overridden with impunity and the power are using the glorious American flag to cover crimes against the © stitution of the illustrious State of Colorado and the bill of rights the United States of America. The rights of property have supplanted the rights of the individual and a lawless mob (militia) are arresting citizens without authority and at their pleasure. Please arouse the citizens of the state and save us from this anarchism, militarism, un- American blatherskitism and Bellism. It was signed, “Victims of Military Despotism.” * * * The city council of Victor protested against the action of the mayor, saying that he has wilfully misrepresented the conditions existing in this we are informed as wilfully misrepresented the desires of the He left the council chamber when the council was in ion to mee the advisory committee, without asking for an expression from any member of the council as to whether his contemplated action would meet with approval. His action was taken wholly upon his own mc tion and without knowledge or consent of any meniber of the council. We condemn it now and would have condemned it then, had we kni his intention. The conditions he represented do not exist and have at no time existed. The laws of the state and the ordinances of the city are and have been lived up to and respected by the citizens and property owners, and fully enforced by the officers of the law. This protest was sent to the governor and to the press, and we got a copy at headquarters. Mass meetings were held in all the towns of the district, strong resolutions and petitions were drawn up. From Victor came a resolution that summed up the dreadful condition of things. Even the Democratic Party and the Grand Army Post of veterans of the Civil War vigorously protested against the presence of the militia, The people of the district protested with a loud and unmis- takable voice, but Governor Peabody’s ears had been bought by the Mine Owners’ Association. * * * In Denver the officials of the Western Federation of Miners had been invited by the Trades Assembly to take part in the Labor D: parade. In accepting this invitation I paraphrased Spartacus’ add: to the gladiators: “Ye do well to invite the Western Federation of Miners, the fighting organization which has met on the industrial battlefield every shape of Citizens Alliance, Chamber of Commerce, and Mine Owners’ Association that the broad empire of the West can furnish, . . .” For the parade I Had ten thousand scrolls printed with the constitutional amendments violated by the Peabody administration in a black border. Each of the paraders carried one of these scrolls as he marched through the streets of Denver. Ser ow. While I was at the office, my wife, who was again bedridden, spent much of her time alone, although we had a woman working for us. Some one introduced a Christian Science reader to her. Having noth- ing to do, my wife began taking treatments from this woman, who professed to have the power of healing. Her imagination dwelt om the possibility of relief from her sufferings through the medium Christian Science, as doctors had not been able to cure her. One charlatan woman and then another gave her treatments. Sometimes when she had a “claim,” as they called an attack, she would have our oldest daughter, Vernie, telephone to one of these female ascetics, who would “hold” for her, or give her “absent treatments”’—at so much per treatment, My wife became a devout reader of Science and Health, which was made up of the vagaries of a fanatical and ignorant old woman. To me it was all nonsense, based on that profane compilation of fables called the Bible. But it was useless for me to protest. If these so-called treatments gave her any comfort of mind, I could stand for it. But when it began to influence my children, it drove me nearly mad, * In the neat instalment Haywood writes of Mother Jones and what she did while working for the W. F. M.; of John Mitchell, labor mis- leader and traitor; of John D. Rockefeller; of the Navajo Indians who found out they were expected to scab on white workers and wouldn’t do it. Readers who wish to read Haywood’s book all at one time, are offered the chance to get the bound volume free of cost by sending in a yearly subscription, renewal or extension. Send just the price of the yearly sub, no more, and say you want Haywood's bool. * *